The HCMC Education & Training Department has sent a dispatch to schools, asking them to commend the courage of five ‘street knights’ who were stabbed to death when trying to arrest armed thieves.

Two knights were stabbed to death

In the dispatch, the department asked schools to offer moral education to students, praise the knights’ examples to students, and honour the knights’ bravery and sacrifice for others.

The request has faced opposition from the public.

“Will you dare fight against armed thieves if you see them trying to steal a motorbike? Will you dare not kneel down if the thieves tell you to do this? If you don’t, please don’t encourage others to do this,” a parent in HCMC commented on her Facebook.

A member of an education forum commented that the officials of the education department do not understand all the aspects of the issue. “Students must be taught to act reasonably in different situations. It would be unwise for unarmed people or students to step in to fight against such a group of aggressive armed men,’ he commented.

“Instead of teaching them (students) bravery, students should be advised to run away and seek the help of police,” he continued.

He went on to say that Vietnamese educators should not be loyal to out-of-date education views.

“As a father and educator of my children, I tell my children that bravery is the virtue of heroes, not normal people. We admire the heroes, but we are just normal people,” he wrote, adding that students must not be encouraged to do things beyond their capacity.

Unlike action movies, where heroes always defeat criminals and send them to prison, heroes sometimes had to pay a heavy price for their brave actions.

In the case mentioned by the education department, two knights were stabbed to death and three others were serious wounded and hospitalized. And the deaths of the knights caused misery to their family members.

Truong Tien Si, a lecturer at the HCMC Banking University, commented that people now live in a civilized society, where there are legislative and executive bodies, and everyone has to respect the laws.

He thinks that it would be better not to praise the bravery of the knights.

“These should not be set as texamples for students to follow. Students need to learn skills to protect themselves rather than bravey when meeting criminals,” Si said.

An official of the education department said the bravery and sacrifice of the knights must be respected by society, and this does not mean that students are required to do the same things that the knights did.